Q: What products are supported?
A: We are supporting Visual Basic 6.0, Visual FoxPro 9.0 and Visual Studio 2005 Service Pack 1 with the Visual Studio 2005 Service Pack 1 Update for Windows Vista.

Q: What products aren't supported?
A: Except for the 3 products above, Microsoft does not support Visual Studio 2003 or earlier.

Q: What guidance do you offer?
A: If you are currently using Visual Basic 6.0 you can continue to use it to create your applications. If you are using any other Microsoft development tool except Visual Studio 2005, we recommend that you upgrade to Visual Studio 2005. If you are using Visual Studio 2005 then we recommend that you install Visual Studio 2005 Service Pack 1 and the Service Pack 1 Update for Windows Vista.

Q: Can I run Visual Studio 2005 on Vista even if it is not supported?
A: While we do not block you from running any Microsoft development tool we only support Visual Basic 6.0 and Visual Studio 2005 Service Pack 1 with the Visual Studio 2005 Service Pack 1 Update for Windows Vista. Running other Microsoft development tools will result in unexpected behavior.

Q: Is there any difference between Visual Studio 2005 RTM and Visual Studio 2005 SP1 on Vista?
A: No. The only change is a warning that Visual Studio 2005 should be run with elevated privileges on Windows Vista.

Q: When will the Vista Support Update be available?
A: We will be releasing the Service Pack 1 Update for Windows Vista in the first quarter of 2007. A beta of this update is available now. For more information, see Visual Studio 2005 Service Pack 1.

Q: By not supporting Visual Studio.NET 2003 on Windows Vista, aren't you forcing customers to upgrade to Visual Studio 2005?
A: We feel strongly that the new features available for developers on Windows Vista are best targeted using Visual Studio 2005. Windows Vista contains many significant advances, and Visual Studio 2005 is the best toolset for building applications that take advantage of those advances.
Examples of this type of support include:

• Enhanced C++ features for security and C++/CLI make it easier to develop applications that take advantage of managed and unmanaged code features in Windows Vista
• Support for the .NET Framework 2.0. (Windows Vista ships with .NET Framework 3.0 pre-installed. The .NET Framework 2.0 is a proper subset of the .NET Framework 3.0 and thus fully supported)
• Support for pre-releases and CTPs that are designed to provide support for Windows Vista development. Examples of these are found on the Visual Studio Futures Page.

Q: Why support Visual Basic 6 and not Visual Studio.NET 2003 on Windows Vista?
A: Visual Basic 6.0 is still being supported because that upgrade is more difficult. Microsoft is committed to making the developer experience on Windows Vista as simple and productive as building application on Windows XP is today. However, Visual Studio 2003 or earlier would require many changes that make that experience worse. Customers will find that upgrading to Visual Studio 2005 will not only improve their developer experience but make developing on Windows Vista easier.

Q: If Visual Studio .NET 2002 and 2003 won't be supported on Windows Vista, will my existing applications still work?
A: Yes. Only the development environments will not be supported. The .NET Framework 1.1 and 2.0 runtimes will still run on Windows Vista.

Q: What makes it so technically challenging to support Visual Studio.NET 2002 and Visual Studio .NET 2003 on Windows Vista?
A: As those of you who have tested your software on Windows Vista know, some of the changes in the operating system have a particular impact on developer tools given that most users run as an administrator on their local machine. We have made tremendous investments in Windows Vista to ensure backwards compatibility, but some of the system enhancements, such as User Access Control and changes to parts of the networking stack would require substantial work on Vista.

Q: Why are you only telling Visual Studio customers now of the support plans?
A: We are making developers aware of our support plans as a part of some of our larger announcements around Visual Studio 2005 Service Pack 1. We believe that making this information available prior to the release of Windows Vista gives developers sufficient time.

Q: Why are you encouraging developers to begin testing their applications on Windows Vista now if you still don't have tools that run on the operating system?
A: Early testing is critical to ensuring that developers are prepared for the impact the changes to the operating system may have on their applications. We are going through this process now with Visual Studio 2005. We are working to ensure that developers have the best possible experience working with Visual Studio 2005 on Windows Vista.

Q: Why didn't you include Windows Vista support in Service Pack 1 for Visual Studio 2005?
A: Delivering great product quality is something that we have always aimed for. We wanted to deliver the update to Visual Studio 2005 as soon as possible to our existing customers. We intend to deliver the Visual Studio 2005 Service Pack 1 Update for Windows Vista in the first quarter of 2007. A beta of this update is available now. For more information, see Visual Studio 2005 Service Pack 1.

Q: What if developers want to upgrade existing applications to run on Windows Vista?
A: We are committed to helping developers move their .NET Framework 1.1 code to the .NET Framework 2.0 and 3.0.

Q: What about applications built on the .NET Framework 2.0?
A: The .NET Framework 2.0 is a proper subset of the .NET Framework 3.0 so applications are fully compatible.